All-you-can-eat Sushi in 40 minutes, Gangnam Station

Check out 자연산 회 in Gangnam. It's the best place to get all you can eat sushi in Seoul. Okay, so it's possible that I have not visited any other all-you-can-eat sushi places in Seoul and have absolutely no basis for that statement but will continue to stand by it anyways. 자연산 translates to natural and 회 translates to time. The name helps to explain a little about the place because it's a timed buffet. All the sushi you can pack away in 40 minutes for 17,000 won.

The best place to be seated is around the center table. You get to watch the sushi chefs at work, view all the different kinds of sushi available as they are transported around the conveyor-belt and help yourself to as much as you want. The super-sushi-chef in front of our spot was able to tell us the names of the fish we couldn't distinguish on our own. He also took requests and made sure to keep our favorites coming.


When you're seated the waiter will drop a bill on your table with the time you started eating. There's a clock over the front counter to keep track of your time. Your area is set up with wasabi and soy sauce and the waiters bring miso soup and cold barley tea. They'll signal when your time is nearing to an end by bringing some cold cinnamon tea or fruit. If you go over time for a minute or two they won't forcefully escort you out but you may begin to feel the nudge-nudge eye a little. Once you pass 5 minutes over you'll be charged 1,000 won.


It's open for lunch and dinner, from 11:30am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm. I've only ever been for lunch or early dinners on weekends and its never been to busy to sit at the center table. I've been told it can get rather busy during the week with all the business men and women coming in for lunch.

Directions: Gangnam Station exit 8. Walk straight for 5 or so minutes and it's on your left. Look for the door above. Inside there are stairs going down into the restaurant.

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Fugetsu, Japanese in Hongdae

(Directions and map at bottom of post)

Fugetsu is a popular Japanese restaurant in Hongdae. One of the main dishes served here is okonomiyaki. Okonomi means "what you like" and yaki means "grilled." Each table is equipped with its own grill. If you are new to Japanese cuisine (as we are) this would be a good place to start because your server cooks your food for you. I would not know where to begin to cook my own okonomiyaki.

The menu has many options to choose from. We ordered a beef modanyaki (okonomiyaki with noodles). The server mixed cabbage with egg and plopped it on the grill with some beef in the middle. After some time he added a layer of noodles and Katsuobushi (dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna). The paper-thin pink-brown shavings look alive as the heat causes them to wave and dance on top of the other ingredients. When the beef is cooked through the server flips the savory pancake and spreads a layer of mayo and okonomiyaki sauce on top. I never expected Japanese food to include mayonaise but the end result was quite delicious. It blended well with the sweet teriyaki/worcestershire-like okonomiyaki sauce.
In the picture below you can see that we also ordered a seafood soba noodle stirfry. It was a nice accompaniment to the other dish because it was a little plainer and not sauce heavy.
They did not have an English menu available to us so it's best to know some Korean, although the menu does have a lot of pictures to help you out if your knowledge of Korean is low.

Directions: Walk out Hongik University Station Exit 5. Take your first left (not the intersection with the KFC immediately when you come out, but the next left) and then your second right. I've seen some maps of Hongdae call this the "street you want to walk." You will have to walk for about 15 minutes passing many colorful shops and restaurants. Look for this building with a pig sign on the second floor:
It's across the street from a parking area. I tried to get a clear picture of the sign with the big pig but it's still a little difficult to make out. Here's a map to help you out:

View Fugetsu in a larger map

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